[RedJam19]

Hello,

After researching the Playbook and its competitors for two weeks, I decided to purchase a new 64 GB Playbook yesterday. For the specs and price I thought it was a great deal.

suspicion # 1: Upon trying to register the tablet.... I was told over the phone that the tablet had originally been registered back in April 2011. I did purchase a new 64GB tablet as described in the product page's description through The Source retail stores here in southern Ontario, Canada.

suspicion # 2: The home wireless linksys router WRT54G ver. 2 .... has an 8-character password. Prior to the Playbook, there is a desktop, ipod touch, mac air, and a kindle all running off of this same router. When I enter the password, it is only after entering the fifth character or an experimental 13th character that the "next" button on the keyboard changes to the "connect" button. The Blackberry tech rep. said that since I'm running a WEP encryption, the password needs to be 5 or 13 characters. If that is the case, why is it that the Mac Air, Kindle, and ipod touch, and other various 'guest' wireless devices have connected to the wireless network using the 8 character password that has been in place for 5 + years ?

It's been a frustrating/suspicious first 12 hours with my new PB. I'm afraid I may have to return it though.

Any constructive comments would be appreciated. Have a great day.

[kbz1960]

Hello,

After researching the Playbook and its competitors for two weeks, I decided to purchase a new 64 GB Playbook yesterday. For the specs and price I thought it was a great deal.

suspicion # 1: Upon trying to register the tablet.... I was told over the phone that the tablet had originally been registered back in April 2011. I did purchase a new 64GB tablet as described in the product page's description through The Source retail stores here in southern Ontario, Canada.

suspicion # 2: The home wireless linksys router WRT54G ver. 2 .... has an 8-character password. Prior to the Playbook, there is a desktop, ipod touch, mac air, and a kindle all running off of this same router. When I enter the password, it is only after entering the fifth character or an experimental 13th character that the "next" button on the keyboard changes to the "connect" button. The Blackberry tech rep. said that since I'm running a WEP encryption, the password needs to be 5 or 13 characters. If that is the case, why is it that the Mac Air, Kindle, and ipod touch, and other various 'guest' wireless devices have connected to the wireless network using the 8 character password that has been in place for 5 + years ?

It's been a frustrating/suspicious first 12 hours with my new PB. I'm afraid I may have to return it though.

Any constructive comments would be appreciated. Have a great day.

Must be something wrong my connect button is selectable no matter how many keys I type.

[Carl Estes]

You said you purchased a "New" BB PB/64gb.

Why would the vendor state that it was "originally been registered back in April 2011."

This sounds like a "Refurbished/recycled unit. Either you can do a wipe and re-install os, then do updates, and you should have a "new functioning PB".

HOWEVER, as I am sure, you ordered, paid, and waited for a NEW unit. I would suggest you exchange for a NEW UNIT.

Then when you get the NEW unit, it should log onto your network without any issues.

carl

[p90xdiva]

how do you register the tablet? I never registered mine and would like to just so I know its not refurbished

[farside33]

My WEP password is also 8 characters (passphrase). On 3 laptops at the office we have to enter the 26 character HEX values (router converts phrase to key).

I also have to enter the 26 HEX characters on my PB to connect to my WEP wireless system.

[68pony]

Doesn't sound like it is new, I would send it back and require a new one. I only have 2
PB's but neither of them have had problems with my router. My WEP router just requires I push the WEP button to connect.

As someone stated earlier, try a Security Wipe and see what happens just for the heck of it.

I think the tablet is automatically registered when you connect to RIM the first time during setup.

[apengue1]

Do not return it. Try a device wipe first and then it will guide you through the setup process once it reboots itself. If everything works fine after this.. then its safe to say that its possibly not a 'new' unit, and it is in fact the store you bought it from who did bad business with you.

Try this, do not crap out on the playbook already, especially if its not its fault.. you will not regret using a playbook once its up and running, trust me

[RedJam19]

thanks everybody for the constructive feedback. I'm going to return it to the store and request that they order me a new PB.

I understand that someone mentioned wiping off the os and re-installing it - I'm not that tech-savvy, nor do I think I should have to do that with a quality, new product.

Someone above asked where to register...... I did it via blackberry.com/gettingstarted
there's a link somewhere near the lower half of the screen where you'll input the serial number found on the bottom of the playbook.

' Really hope I have a better experience with the new replacement PB I'll be seeking.

Have a good day.

[mikeplus1]

Well, this is interesting, I just went to PlayBook Technical Support Phone Number - PlayBook Help Phone to register my brand new 64gb PB that I just received last week from shopblackberry.com and got the following message:

Unfortunately, your BlackBerry� PlayBook� tablet does not qualify for Complimentary Support. You can, however get assistance using incident based support from Research In Motion.

What is up with this? Anyone else try this?

[apengue1]

thanks everybody for the constructive feedback. I'm going to return it to the store and request that they order me a new PB.

I understand that someone mentioned wiping off the os and re-installing it - I'm not that tech-savvy, nor do I think I should have to do that with a quality, new product

You're right, you absolutely should't have to.

Well, this is interesting, I just went to PlayBook Technical Support Phone Number - PlayBook Help Phone to register my brand new 64gb PB that I just received last week from shopblackberry.com and got the following message:

Unfortunately, your BlackBerry� PlayBook™ tablet does not qualify for Complimentary Support. You can, however get assistance using incident based support from Research In Motion.

What is up with this? Anyone else try this?

This is weird. When did you actually pay for the device? Its 90days from date of purchase. If it hasn't been 90 days yet, then either some stores are repackaging playbooks or RIM is sending them back out as new.

[RedJam19]

That red message regarding being outside the 90-day complimentary support window was the same message I received.

I entered the serial number to register when I had the customer tech support rep on the phone and she told me that my serial number had been resgistered back in April.

She then told me that this was common. C'mon.... years of registering various products online and this is the first time this has happened.

Telling me I had to have a 5 or 13 character password really kind of annoyed me .... I'm not that gullible.

[saudadeii]

I got the same message. Could it be due to the discounted price? I got mine 3 weeks ago.

[apengue1]

Im not sure how to resolve this problem.. seems like a job for customer service. I got mine on Boxing day for $199 and thankfully I had no problems registering my PB.

[FF22]

For those getting that message, is this on your FIRST pb? In other words, is it possible that if you move a bbid to a NEW device, that they think it is your older original device? Clearly, for some it is suppose to be their first/only pb.

And unless the discounted price indicates less support, you should be entitled to the normal free 90 day support. And the ONE YEAR warranty.

[Fenrir26]

Well, this is interesting, I just went to PlayBook Technical Support Phone Number - PlayBook Help Phone to register my brand new 64gb PB that I just received last week from shopblackberry.com and got the following message:

Unfortunately, your BlackBerry� PlayBook� tablet does not qualify for Complimentary Support. You can, however get assistance using incident based support from Research In Motion.

What is up with this? Anyone else try this?

Same message I got when I tried to register mine on their site. Box still had the factory sticker on it and screen cover. My wife who bought it for me said she got it at the end of November so it should have had the 90 day on it.

[RedJam19]

I can only speak for my own case/experience....

this is definitely my first PB that I have tried to register and I've never owned any previous Blackberry products in the past.

My device was purchased yesterday at the $300 dollar 64 GB sale price .... why would that have any influence on the 90 complimentary support ?

I have tried customer service twice today...... they gave me the same response that it is not atypical for the PB product to be tested out before shipment. This is ridiculous.

Apparently I've been very lucky that none of the other 20 or so products that I've purchased over the past decade and subsequently registered online never had been 'tested'/'registered' before being shipped off as a new product ? Really ?

[RedJam19]

Going back to my original thread-starting post. I've ordered another PB through the retail store I purchased from. They will ship out the exchange product by January 31st. The retail store was The Source here in Canada. I've packed away the PB into its original packaging and stored it away.

Not a good start for me and Blackberry. I really want to be a satisfied PB customer because I think it's a nice product at a great price. However, I have not been impressed with the serial number fiasco nor the misinformation I received from the tech support dept. about the wifi connection password.

For all you recent PB purchasers - check those serial numbers via the online registration - something seems to be amiss.

Have a nice night everyone.

[sasquatch99]

Well, this is interesting, I just went to PlayBook Technical Support Phone Number - PlayBook Help Phone to register my brand new 64gb PB that I just received last week from shopblackberry.com and got the following message:

Unfortunately, your BlackBerry� PlayBook� tablet does not qualify for Complimentary Support. You can, however get assistance using incident based support from Research In Motion.

What is up with this? Anyone else try this?

For the PB32 that I purchased back on 190411, I got the same message. However, for the PB64 that I purchased on 190112 from The Source, there was no problems registering it.

[T�nis]

Sounds shady, whether it's a store repackaging or RIM sending out refurbs. But even if it's only RIM testing a product before shipping, the original purchaser should still get the 90 days support and year warranty.

[mikeplus1]

I bought and paid for my new, factory sealed device (not refurbished unit) on January 12, 2012 and received it on January 17, 2012 from Shopblackberry.com and only tried to register it today. I called technical support number on that page at 1-877-644-8410 and was very quickly talking to someone who helped me register my unit by phone. I explained what had happened and he assured me that it had not been registered before, used before, refurbished, tested, opened, registered under any other name or anything like that and he simply had to manually enter the serial number in the system before I could register the unit. He stated that this had happened before, but that a refurbished unit would not be able to be registered in this manner regardless. He also said that once a unit has been registered it would show in the system as well. After he put my number in the system, he reassured me that I had a new unit that had never been registered before and that it did indeed have a full 90-day phone support with a full year warranty from the day of purchase. I then re-entered the number on the website and all was fine, got my confirmation email for complimentary 90-day phone support and 1-year warranty information, which then requires you to go to the link provided in the email and agree to the Terms and Conditions. He stayed on the line while I did all of this and the complete process only took maybe 10 minutes from the time that I dialed the number.

If you have not registered your unit yet you can do so at: PlayBook Technical Support Phone Number - PlayBook Help Phone
PlayBook Technical Support Phone Number - PlayBook Help Phone

[sasquatch99]

I bought and paid for my new, factory sealed device (not refurbished unit) on January 12, 2012 and received it on January 17, 2012 from Shopblackberry.com and only tried to register it today.

Did you get a recently packaged unit? The 64GB I got locally was boxed on 040112. The S/N started with 1344, which I haven't seen in the forums. All the S/Ns I have seen here are 1343. The PIN is 502xxxxx. I prefer my older PIN, eDODO.

[cbvinh]

Telling me I had to have a 5 or 13 character password really kind of annoyed me .... I'm not that gullible.

The tech wasn't misleading you:

Choosing a password for networks that use Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)

"Choosing and using a WEP password can be a challenge, because WEP is an older security protocol that was developed before members of the Wi-Fi Alliance had agreed on a uniform way to treat passwords. The result is that a WEP password may not work for all computers in a multiplatform environment.

However, this is the easy trick you can use to make a WEP password work for everybody on your network:

* For a 40 bit WEP network, always choose a 5-character password.
* For a 128 bit WEP network, always choose a 13-character password. Be sure to use a password that is secure."

[lotuslanderz]

The tech wasn't misleading you:

Choosing a password for networks that use Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)

"Choosing and using a WEP password can be a challenge, because WEP is an older security protocol that was developed before members of the Wi-Fi Alliance had agreed on a uniform way to treat passwords. The result is that a WEP password may not work for all computers in a multiplatform environment.

However, this is the easy trick you can use to make a WEP password work for everybody on your network:

* For a 40 bit WEP network, always choose a 5-character password.
* For a 128 bit WEP network, always choose a 13-character password. Be sure to use a password that is secure."

Thanks -- I didnt know that!

[RedJam19]

The tech wasn't misleading you:

Choosing a password for networks that use Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)

"Choosing and using a WEP password can be a challenge, because WEP is an older security protocol that was developed before members of the Wi-Fi Alliance had agreed on a uniform way to treat passwords. The result is that a WEP password may not work for all computers in a multiplatform environment.

However, this is the easy trick you can use to make a WEP password work for everybody on your network:

* For a 40 bit WEP network, always choose a 5-character password.
* For a 128 bit WEP network, always choose a 13-character password. Be sure to use a password that is secure."

----------
interesting. Thank you for the insight. I did call Blackberry customer service for a thrid time today just to relay my earlier experiences. They patched me through to tech support, and a different rep. said that an 8-character password should work for a WEP encryption. The new wrinkle that came out of the quoted response was the 40 bit or 128 bit variable. Hmmmmm...

[kjic13]

Well, this is interesting, I just went to PlayBook Technical Support Phone Number - PlayBook Help Phone to register my brand new 64gb PB that I just received last week from shopblackberry.com and got the following message:

Unfortunately, your BlackBerry� PlayBook� tablet does not qualify for Complimentary Support. You can, however get assistance using incident based support from Research In Motion.

What is up with this? Anyone else try this?

I just noticed I have the same message when trying this with my 32GB model. It was purchased as a gift around mid-to-late November so I am certain it's not passed the 90 day period yet. I do hope this doesn't turn into a bout of trouble with RIM should my PB start to bulge like so many others'. If these are unknowingly-to-the-customer refurbished and/or re-sold as new why wouldn't RIM take the S/N out of circulation in the database so it can be re-registered by a new owner.

Something really does smell fishy here.